A Café Built Around Tiny Excavators Is Coming to McGinnis Ferry Road

Most coming-soon signs promise another restaurant, salon or fitness studio. The one recently posted at McGinnis Ferry Promenade promises something considerably harder to categorize: specialty lattes, an enormous indoor sandbox and a fleet of miniature construction machines operated by remote control.

Sand N Wheels Play Cafe is preparing to open at 5354 McGinnis Ferry Road, near the Johns Creek–South Forsyth line. Its permanent sign is already mounted above the storefront, though the windows remain covered and construction is continuing inside. A Forsyth County sign permit displayed on the door was issued April 9.

If the current schedule holds, Sand N Wheels will open in September 2026. Behind the covered windows, the owners are building a roughly 3,000-square-foot hybrid of a coffeehouse, children’s sensory-play space and miniature construction site.

Coffee Beside the Construction Zone

The centerpiece will be a sand-filled arena where customers can operate remote-control excavators, bulldozers, crawlers and dump trucks. The objective will not be to race the machines but to put them to work: digging holes, moving sand, creating paths and loading miniature trucks.

The construction arena is being designed for children, teenagers and adults. Parents will not necessarily be relegated to watching from the sidelines; they will be able to take a controller, order a drink and join the excavation.

Younger children will have a separate sensory sandbox intended primarily for ages 1 through 7. That space is meant to offer a calmer alternative to the large climbing structures, flashing lights and constant noise found at many indoor play centers.

The coffeehouse side of the business will serve espresso drinks and specialty lattes, giving adults a more comfortable place to sit while remaining close enough to supervise. Planned operating hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

What a Visit Will Cost

Admission to the children’s sandbox is expected to cost $22 for up to two hours, with two accompanying adults included. Families bringing more than one child will receive a $5 sibling discount.

A 30-minute session controlling one of the construction vehicles is planned at $12 per seat. A $30 combination pass will include both sandbox admission and an RC construction session.

Monthly memberships are also part of the plan. A founding membership will cost $50 per month for one child and $35 for each sibling, with daily sandbox admission, guest passes, party and café discounts and one specialty coffee each month.

Birthday celebrations are likely to become a substantial part of the operation. Packages are expected to begin at $275 for a smaller weekday party and rise to $745 for a larger weekend event with private use of the play area, food and RC activities.

Keeping the Sand Out of the Coffee

Placing a large indoor sandbox beside an espresso bar presents an unusually practical challenge: keeping the sand contained and the café clean.

The play area will use imported Baha play sand, with the sand regularly turned and treated. Toys will be sterilized with ultraviolet equipment, while continuous HEPA filtration will help control airborne dust. The room is also being arranged to give adults clear sightlines from the café seating area into the children’s play space.

Visitors will remove both shoes and socks before entering the children’s sandbox. Throwing sand, bringing outside toys and burying other children will be prohibited. The real test, of course, will come after opening, when the space begins handling families, birthday parties and repeated play sessions throughout the day.

A Strange Idea That May Fit the Neighborhood

Remote-control construction cafés remain unusual, though versions of the idea have begun appearing in a handful of locations outside Georgia. Sand N Wheels is positioned to become the first such digger café in the Atlanta area, with no close equivalent operating elsewhere along the North Fulton–South Forsyth corridor.

The concept belongs to a growing class of businesses trying to make children’s entertainment more enjoyable for the adults who accompany them. Instead of asking parents to wait beside a noisy play structure with little to do, Sand N Wheels is betting that quality coffee, a calmer room and the chance to operate an excavator will encourage entire families to participate.

It is undeniably an odd proposition. It may also be well matched to a suburban corridor filled with young families, birthday-party demand and parents continually searching for indoor activities that do not feel like slightly altered versions of the same play center.

For now, the miniature construction site remains hidden behind a covered storefront. By September, if the schedule holds, customers may be digging holes on McGinnis Ferry Road—with considerably less inconvenience than the full-size roadwork outside.

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About the Author

Tsvi Jolles

Author, Editor & Publisher

Tsvi Jolles is the author of seven books and the founder and publisher of North Atlanta Star. He has lived in Cumming for almost a decade.

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